Supreme Court Directs States To Provide Ration Cards To Migrant/Unorganized Workers Registered On Centre's E-Shram Portal Within 3 Months

The Supreme Court of India on Thursday directed state governments to grant ration cards to migrant or unorganized workers who do not have them but are registered on the centre's e-Shram portal, within three months.

A bench headed by Justice MR Shah passed the order in an application filed by activists Harsh Mander, Anjali Bharadwaj and Jagdeep Chhokar alleging non-compliance by the union and certain states with the top court's directions issued in 2021 on dry rations and open community kitchens for migrant workers. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, had pointed out that due to the absence of the latest population figures, over 10 crore people were excluded from the protective umbrella of the National Food Security Act, 2013, without even ration cards. The coverage under the food security law, being determined on the basis of the 2011 census, was grossly inadequate, it was pointed out.

The bench pronounced:

"At present, we give further three months time to the concerned states to undertake the exercise to issue ration cards to the ones left-out registered on the e-Shram portal by giving wide publicity and direct the concerned state or union territory to approach such people through the district collectors' office so that more and more people registered on the portal are issued ration cards, allowing them to get the benefit of benevolent schemes by the Union of India and state governments, as well as the benefit of the National Food Security Act, 2013."

With further instruction to the central government to file a status report, the bench directed the matter to be listed next on October 3, 2023.

In a previous hearing, the top court had directed the central and state governments to inform whether the 28.55 crores migrants/unorganised workers registered on the e-Shram portal possessed the ration cards and whether all of them had been given the benefit of food under the National Food Security Act, which entitled rural and urban poor to receive subsidised food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). Mere registration on the portal was not enough, remarked the bench. It was imperative that the benefits of the benevolent scheme of the governments reached the poorest of the poor. Justice Shah told additional solicitor-general Aishwarya Bhati, "We are not interested in sharing of data between the states and the centre. We are interested in whether migrants, who are skilled or unskilled, are getting the benefit of the schemes. The government should reach every migrant, first of all, the ones who are already registered."

Case : In Re Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers

Citation : 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 332

Supreme Court directed state governments to grant ration cards to migrant or unorganized workers who do not have them but are registered on the centre's e-Shram portal, within three months.

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